Methods of sewing welts to stitchdown shoes



' Feb. 4, 1958 F. ASHWORTH Er AL 2,821,728

METHODS OF SEWING WELTS TO STITCHDOWN SHOES Filed Nov. 29, 1955 [nven tors Fred Ashwonh simulate the construction of a Goodyear welt shoe.

Ue wd Stews Pm Q Fred Ashworth, Wenham, and Joseph R. Ioannilli, Beverly, Mass., assignors to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application November 29, 1955, Serial No. 549,753

3 Claims. (Cl. 12-142) The present invention relates to methods for sewing .welts to stitchdown shoes, and more particularly to im provements in methods similar to that disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,684,494, granted July 27, .1954, upon an application filed in the names of the present inventors.

in ordinary stitchdown shoes the outseam is inserted a uniform distance from the crease of the crevice within which the welt is laid, the projecting marginal portions of the upper and sole ordinarily being rough rounded also a uniform distance from the crease in which the welt is laid. The purpose of the method disclosed in the prior patent, above identified, is to enable sewing a welt to the outflanged upper and marginal sole portions of a lasted stitchdown shoe, said upper and sole portions being formed with a variable width or Baltimore edge to the use of the method of the patent a departure from the usual preliminary construction is taken and a lasted upper and sole are rough rounded prior to sewing along their projecting marginal portions to provide a relatively wide extension or Baltimore edge along one side of the forepart and a narrow extension both in the shank and at the toe of the shoe. Thereafter, the shoe is presented to a specially constructed outsole stitcher which lays a welt in the crevice between the bulging last supported surface and the outflanged sole supported portion of the upper, and is sewn to the upper and sole with an outseam having a uniform margin throughout its length from the edges of the parts. As a result of the practice disclosed in the prior patent the seam which attaches the welt is spaced a nonuniform distance from the crease of the crevice in which the welt is laid and the edges trimmed a uniform distance from the seam. This practice difiers from that ordinarily employed in the construction of stitchdown shoes. 7 p

The object of the present invention is to provide a method for making stitchdown shoes having outseams inserted nonuniform distances from the crease of the crevice in which the stitchdown Welt is laid, as in the method of the prior patent, but without the necessity, prior to sewing, of rough rounding the projecting marginal portions of the upper and sole to form a nonuniform extension as required in the practice of the method of the prior patent. Stated otherwise, an object of the present invention is to enable sewing a welt to the projecting marginal portions of a stitchdown shoe constructed in an ordinary manner either with an edge of uniform width or with an extension edge of variable width throughout the lengths of the marginal portions and also in either type of construction to insert the outseam a nonuniform distance from the crease of the crevice within which the welt is laid. The advantages of the present improvement are that no departure is taken from the usual preliminary construction of a stitchdown shoe and that the operator of the sewing machine, rather than the operator of the rough rounding machine, is enabled to determine the outline of the seam connecting the welt,

, 2,821,728 Patented a 4, 1958 cessity for the operator of the rough rounding machine to assume the full responsibility of determining the appearance of a Baltimore edge on the shoe and enabling the operator of the sewing machine to modify the appearance.

In the method of the present invention the projecting marginal portions of a stitchdown shoe are precut or rough rounded in accordance with common practice or else rough rounded to provide a uniform extension throughout the length of its marginal portions and the seam may be inserted a variable distance from both the crease in the shoe and the extreme rough rounded edges thereof. After inserting the seam it is only necessary to trim or otherwise finish the rough rounded edges, the outline of the seam providing a suitable decorative efiect simulating the Baltimore edge on a Goodyear welt shoe without further attention. However, under some circumstances it may be desirable to trim the edges of the parts a nonuniform distance from the seam, thus aifording a wider variety of decorative effects than heretofore possible.

These and other features of the invention as hereinafter described and claimed will readily be apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view looking from the right front of certain of the stitch forming and work engaging devices in a machine adapted for use in practicing the method of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of a shoe and a work support in the machine of Fig. 1 shown while the sewing operation is being performed;

Fig. 3 is a detail plan view of a portion of the carrier for the work support and a connection between the carrier and its actuating cam;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the shoe and work suppor in the machine, taken along the line IV-IV of Fig. 2; and

Figs. 5 and 6 are simplified diagrammatic representations based on Fig. 2 and illustrating, on an enlarged scale, the location of the seam and the line of trimming with relation to the crease formed between the bulging portion of the upper supported on a last and the projecting marginal portion of the upper.

The machine illustrated in the drawings is intended for operation upon a stitchdown shoe comprising an upper 2 and a precut or rough rounded sole member 4 having an edge 5, the upper being conformed to a last 6 and secured in place by stitches 8, best shown in Fig. 2. The sole member 4 'is secured to the upper with the upper outflanged into parallel relation to the projecting margin of the sole member 4 to form a seam crease 9. The marginal portions of the shoe are left as they are, rough rounded to provided edges of uniform width or shaped in any other preferred configuration. Usually, an outsole 10 also is employed and it is temporarily attached to the sole member 4 before sewing. To complete the shoe a stitchdown Welt 12 is applied to the crevice between the bulging last supported and outflanged surfaces of the upper 2 and united to the outsole by a seam 11.

In Figs. 2 and 5 the outseam l1 connecting the stitchdown welt 12 and the outsole 10 is shown spaced a rela- 'tively short distance A from the crease form-ing stitches 8 at the toe portion of the shoe, and a longer distance B along the side of the forepart. The shoe may then be finished by trimming the projecting marginal portions of the shoe into conformity with the line of the outseam 11, providing a uniform seam margin, as indicated by the dot-'dash'line "13 in Fig. 5, or alternatively finished with a nonuniform margin of other suitable configuration as indicated by the dot-dash line 13 in Fig. 6. With either method of finishing the edges of the parts a distinctive ornamental appearance is produced providing a wide latitude'of etr'ects.

For the purposes 'of inserting the outseam 11 and "for pressing the welt 12 moving along the welt gage firrrily into the'crevice in the shoe, the illustrated machine has stitch forming devices including a c'urved'hook needle '14, a needle looper '16 and a thread finger 18 acting in a conventional manner and a work support 20 and a presser foot 22 acting to clamp the projecting marginal portions of a shoe against the work support, the work support fittingwithin the crevice of the shoe and having a welt guide in the form of apassage 24 entering the side of the work'support and emerging in line with a needle receivin'g opening 26. The welt 12 passing through the welt guide is held firmly within the crevice of the shoe by a welt gage '28 integrally mounted on the work support by a shoulder at the rear of the needle opening 26. The shoe is guided entirely by the work support, there being no other stationary edge gage for contacting the projecting marginal portions of the upper and sole member.

To enable the contour of the outseam 11 to be varied so that an ornamentally shaped seam may be inserted which is independent both of the crease in the shoe and of the rough rounded edge of the shoe parts, the work support 20 is mounted for swinging movement on a shiftable carrier 30, the work support, the welt guide and the welt gage being movable therewith as a unit. The position of the carrier is at all times determined by the periphery of a rotatable cam 40 engaging a rearward surface on the carrier, a spring 42 being stretched between apin 44 on the carrier and a pin 46 on the machine frame to hold the carrier against the cam.

To'rota'te the cam 40 it is secured to the upper end of a vertical shaft 52 rotating in the machine frame, and at the lower end of the shaft is a gear segment 54 meshing with a corresponding segment 56 secured to the upper end of a second shaft 58 rotatable in a bracket 60 carried by the frame. At the lower end of the shaft 58 is an arm 62 having a hand operated member 64 for rotating the shaft 58 and the cam 40 through the gear segments 54, 56.

With the construction shown it is possible by swinging the hand member 64 to vary the contour of the outseam 11 while directing the stitchdown welt 12 into the crevice of a shoe without respect to the curvature of the projecting edges of the shoe parts. Movement of the hand member is readily accomplished by the operator of the machine during sewing and is no more burdensome than the control of the usual edge gage in a similar machine for operating upon Goodyear welt shoes. Not only is the machine accordingly made more convenient for use with stitchdown shoes of conventional construction but it may be employed to advantage in other types of shoes where it is desired to attach a narrow finished welt in the crevice of a shoe with 'a seam of distinctive and ornamental contour.

The machine herein disclosed is being claimed in a copending application Serial No. 420,612, filed April 2, 1954, now Patent No. 2,780,189, issued February 5, 1957, of which the present application is a division.

The nature and scope of the invention having been indicated and a novel procedure having been described what is claimed is:

l. The method of operating upon a stitchdown shoe having untrimmed projecting marginal portions of its outflanged upper and its sole member attached together while supported on a last, which comprises sewing the untrimmed projecting marginal portions of the shoe together with a seam spaced a variable distance from the crease formed between the bulging surface of the upper supported by the last and the projecting marginal portion of the upper, pressing a welt into the crevice formed by the crease in advance of the sewing point and thereafter trimming the projecting marginal portions of the upper, sole member and Walt at a variable distance from the crease to produce an ornamental appearance along the seam.

'2. The method of operating upon a stitchdown shoe having untrirnmed projecting marginal portions of its "outfla'n'ged upp'e'r and its sole member attached together while supported on a last, which comprises sewing the untritnmed projecting marginal portions of the shoe together with a seam spaced a variable distance from the crease formed between the bulging surface of the upper supported by the last and the projecting marginal portion of the upper, pressing a welt into the crevice formed by the crease in advance of the sewing point and thereafter trimming the projecting marginal portions of the upper sole member and welt a uniform distance from the line of the seam to simulate a Goodyear welt shoe.

3. The method of operating upon a stitchdown shoe having untrimme'd projecting marginal portions of its outfla'nged upper and its sole member attached together while supported on a last, which comprises sewing the 'uittri'rtimed projecting marginal portions of the shoe together with a seam "spaced a variable distance from the crease formed between the bulging surface of the upper supported by the last and the projecting marginal portion of the upper, pressing a welt into the crevice formed by the crease in advance of the sewing point and thereafter trimming the projecting marginal portions of the upper, sole member and welt at a variable distance from the crease and at a variable distance from the line of the seam.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,684,494 Ashwofth'et'al. July 27, 1954 

